PARSHAT CHAYEI SARAH - ABRAHAM'S IMPURE GIFTS TO HIS CHILDREN

Chayei Sarah (Genesis 23:1-25:18 )

בס”ד

Bereishis, 25:5-6: “And Avraham gave everything that he had to Yitzchak. And to the children of the concubine, he gave gifts.”
Rashi, 25:6: Dh: Avraham gave gifts: “The Rabbis explained that he gave them the name of impurity.”
Rashi, Sanhedrin, 91a: Dh: Shem Tumah: “Sorcery…”

At the end of this week’s Torah portion, the Torah relates that Avraham gave everything he had to his son Yitzchak. However, the Torah then teaches that he also gave gifts to his children from Keturah. If he gave everything to Yitzchak, then what was left for him to give to his other children?

The Rabbis explain that he gave them the ‘shem tumah’, literally a name of impurity, which is some kind of spiritual power but seems to be disconnected from the pure spiritual inheritance of Yitzchak. Thus, that is not included in what Yitzchak received.

There is considerable discussion as to what exactly this name of impurity means. Rashi writes in his commentary on the Talmud that it refers to sorcery. The Zohar understands that there was some form of true wisdom in it but it has been corrupted over the course of time: The Zohar states:

“Rabbi Abba said: I once was in a town where the children of the east live, and they taught me some of their ancient wisdom and showed me their books of wisdom…. I said to them, my children, all of this is similar to what we have in our Torah, but you should avoid these books, to avoid idolatry…. The ancient children of the east possessed a wisdom which they had inherited from Abraham, who had imparted it to the children of his other wife… in time they followed that wisdom to many false roads.”¹

The question arises as to why exactly Avraham gave them this form of wisdom. Rav Pinchas Winston shlit’a² explains that Avraham did not send his children from Keturah in the direction of idol worship. On the contrary, while he had to send them away from Yitzchak, he wanted that they would remain apart from any form of idol worship, while at the same time maintaining a spiritual side.

Therefore, Avraham taught them how to access spirituality but without using the Holy Names of G-d, which only Yitzchak and his descendants could do. Consequently, in Rabbi Winston’s words, “they learned to meditate and to create a high level of spiritual sensitivity that could tune them into Creation, probably the basis of most eastern religions today, but not idolatrous practices. They can work, and quite well, but not nearly as effectively as the front door approach of Kabbalah through the Names of G-d that we know through tradition.”

Fascinatingly, there are a number of ways in which aspects of the Eastern religions mimic or distort Torah ideas. For example, Raabbi Dov Ber Cohen shlit’a³ notes that the name of the creator deity of Hinduism is Brahma and he has a consort called Saraswati. These names are strikingly similar to Avraham and Sarah. Moreover, their tradition believes that Saraswati was created when Brahma too a piece of his own body from which he fashioned her, which is eerily similar to the Torah’s account of the creation of Chava. He also notes that in some ways their practises resemble Torah practices (although of course in many aspects they deviate from Torah thought and deteriorate into idol worship).

These ideas demonstrate that Avraham deliberately gave his children access to true spiritual forces that they were able to access, without enabling them to reach the true levels of relationship with G-d that only a Jew can access. It is possible to add that Avraham’s concern was not just for his children but also for their descendants throughout history. We know that the Jewish people are supposed to be a Light unto Nations, teaching them the ideas of Ethical Monotheism – the belief in one G-d who is the Creator of an absolute morality.

Rabbi Ken Spiro writes at length in his excellent book, ‘World Perfect’ how this belief miraculously spread throughout the world through the religions of Christianity and Islam, to the extent that half the world believes in Ethical Monotheism. The Rambam⁴writes that this will make it far easier when the time of Mashiach comes, for these people to accept the Torah approach because they are less distant from the Torah beliefs than idol worshippers. Obviously, the Eastern religions have been greatly influenced by idolatrous beliefs, but perhaps the fact that they descend from Avraham’s children who did have an element of true spirituality, will also make it easier for them to adapt to the truth at the time of Moshiach.

These ideas are sadly not just theoretical. Unfortunately, there are many non-religious Jews who follow the Bnei Keturah eastward in search of spirituality. They overlook their own inheritance, the path of Yitzchak, the only son of Avraham and Sarah. Sadly, they have no idea that Judaism offers the only true path to holiness and spiritual perfection. It is incumbent upon us to demonstrate that the spirituality we all so desperately seek is right on their doorstep – they just have to step inside.

By Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen

Notes: